


Ocean Buddies!

by CitrineGator



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: (and so is joshua), (because what else would he be), Alternate Universe, Bubby is a pacific blackdragon, Darnold is a chimarea, Gordon is a tiger shark, He/They pronouns for benrey, Hello! i have no idea what im doing, Idk if gman will make an appearance so i tag him tentatively, M/M, Other, and Coomer is a mantis shrimp, because i don't really want to, but he's a giant squid, but he's a vampire squid, gordon being mean by accident, idk what's actually happening so ima tag as i go, mermaid au, playing mario kart, same deal for forzen but im not tagging him, this came to me in a vision and who am i but to comply
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:09:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28837572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CitrineGator/pseuds/CitrineGator
Summary: Tommy Coolatta and Benrey are working in a Black Mesa undersea base! Tommy's here doing actual work and Benrey is... Supposed to be doing work. Things change when they get a few new visitors.
Relationships: (Possible), Benrey & Tommy Coolatta, Benrey/Gordon Freeman, Bubby/Dr. Coomer (Half-Life), Tommy Coolatta/Darnold
Comments: 34
Kudos: 109





	1. unda da sea

**Author's Note:**

> GOD. *holds my head in my hands* another hlvrai mermaid fic for the masses…. What has my life come to... anyway uhh :) lol, we are crazy here! this will probably be pretty fast paced because i have Thoughts but not a ton of motivation so *shrugging* u will get what i give u i guess lol.  
> nothing is going to be Rushed, im just not going to put any extra details to make this longer than it has to be because im writing it as a distraction from my other ongoing fic rn lol. but! i learned i work better when i have more things to write at the same time so this is a good thing fo me.  
> i almost posted this a few months back but didn't because i forgot it was up on my computer so it turned off and lost all the posting progress on it. but its fine because i got to go in and do some revisions and i like it better now.  
> anyway! i hope u enjoy!

Benrey wasn’t a huge fan of the ocean. In fact, they were quite the opposite. Staring out at the invisible black depths struck a chord of fear somewhere deep inside them and they hadn’t been able to shake it for the two weeks they’d been down here. _Here_ being the Black Mesa Observatory a bajillion meters underwater, stationed somewhere at the bottom of the ocean in the middle of the Pacific. Tommy probably knew how deep it was exactly, since he was the one actually doing the science things down here, but Benrey didn’t really want to bother him while he was making his rounds. Also, he didn’t really care enough to ask. He just knew it was a whole lot of water that could definitely kill him dead; which not a lot of things could do. All it took was a little crack in the glass for water to filter into the base and kill them both. 

Drowning was already a bad way to go, but if he did die manage down here, his body would never surface again, meaning it would be a permanent thing, which wasn’t exactly an attractive idea. He couldn’t just _un_ drown himself without air. So, yeah, it’d be major sucks. Fear of permanent death was totally rational, even for a non-human being. Not that they’d ever admit to being scared, but the clear blue sweet voice that slipped unbidden past his mouth said it for him. Fortunately, Tommy wasn’t around to translate it. 

And even though Tommy at least had the courtesy not to mention how he avoided the sub-bay like the plague; so Benrey got the feeling his friend knew about his fears already. Tommy had picked up on his otherworldly-ness years ago, so he didn’t have to worry too much about upholding his human shit around him, but him just being _afraid_ of something that could _hypothetically_ kill him? It felt more than a little silly. 

He was only down here to make sure nothing got damaged under the pressure of millions of gallons of water and to make sure that Tommy was okay and was doing what he was supposed to. Lucky for them both, Tommy was actually adept at his job and didn’t need monitoring, and Benrey didn’t want to have to keep an eye on his friend all day while he did whatever boring work he was supposed to be doing, so it left him with a lot of nothing to do but stare out the window into the blackness of the water. Occasionally he’d flick on the outside light to see whatever fish had been swimming around and watch them dart back off into the dark, but right now he was content to just lean back in the swivel chair he was perched on. 

Or at least they were till they got bored, which, admittedly didn’t take very long. Short attention span and all that. Scooting forward toward the button that turned on the outside headlamp, Benrey grinned as they flicked their gaze toward the window, only right as their hand was hovering above it, Tommy popped back into the room. 

Immediately skidding backward in the roller chair, Benrey feigned nonchalance, turning to watch his friend trot to the sensors on the other side of the room. His diligent eyes flicking over them quickly before looking to him. 

“You weren’t playing with the light again, were you?” he asked, already knowing full well what Benrey had been up to, if the small smile over his face and the crinkles at the edges of his eyes were anything to judge by. 

Benrey put on a fake scowl, turning away slightly to sulk, “Bro… I can’t believe you’d even accuse me of that… When have I ever messed with the light?” 

Tommy’s grin grew wider as he pulled back from the monitor, “It’s alright if you do it occasionally, I just- the battery needs to be saved. Supplies don’t come in for another month.” 

Groaning, Benrey slumped forward, “A month’s too _long_ dude.” 

“I think it’s a little uhm... I’d like to stay down here longer actually,” he murmured, going messing with the sensor, his eyebrows pulling together slightly as he worked with his back turned slightly, “You wouldn’t have to stay, I know you don’t like it much but, I think it’s kind of fun! Black Mesa could probably just uhm, they could probably send another guard down if you really did want to go.” 

Benrey gnawed on their lip, contemplating the idea. Yeah, it definitely sucked down here, with a painful lack of things to do and people to bother, but Tommy was also their only friend, and leaving him at the bottom of the ocean didn’t really sit right with them. Especially because Black Mesa wasn’t exactly the nicest corporation and probably would send down some boring or spiteful person to replace them. 

“Nah, I’m cool to keep chilling down here with you,” Benrey said after a moment, turning to look out the window again, “Better than whatever Black Mesa would have me doing back up there. Plus, I uh, I get to play Smash on the job with my good buddy so,” he shrugged, spinning himself around in the chair, “Pretty epic.” 

“If you’re still mad about being beat in smash yesterday you could- you could go practice now, I’ve still got a few more things to check up on,” and Benrey could practically hear the smug smile in Tommy’s voice as he trotted from the room again. 

“Wouldn’t lose if you didn’t cheat!” they shouted after him, only earning a distant laugh in response. 

Tommy was unfairly good at beating him at games. And it wasn’t an easy feat to accomplish either! Benrey was an epic gamer! Top tier; nearly unbeatable. And knowing you were good and bragging about it were two separate things, even if Benrey did both. But being beat by the Wii Fit trainer over and over was definitely starting to get to him. Because even though Tommy was his best friend, he _would_ physically fight him over the losing streak he had Benrey in. Maybe he could switch up his main’s and try using Yoshi or something, because if he got killed by the yoga jerks final smash _one_ more time, he might throw himself into the ocean. 

A harsh beep from the monitor that tracked movement around their base jerked Benrey from their thoughts. It probably had a more technical term, but it wasn’t in their job description to know so they didn’t bother. Perking upright, he hopped from his chair and peered at the swiveling line that circled around the green grid. When the beep came again, he stared blankly at the two yellow dots that popped into existence right near their base. Something pretty big. Too small to be one of their submarines, not that he expected one after Tommy had _just_ reminded him that they wouldn’t be coming for another month. But too large to be any regular fish that lived down here. To their knowledge, Tommy’s list of things left to do didn’t constitute hopping out into the water to check on anything, so it couldn’t have been him either. Benrey waited another rotation, and the machine beeped at him again showing that _whatever_ the things were, they were getting closer. 

They were tempted to run and get Tommy, but fish didn’t tend to stick around the base so it might be a one chance opportunity to see whatever was hanging around outside. Maybe, if he was lucky it’d be some octopus; he loved seeing those funny little guys especially because they weren’t always too hasty in swimming away. Plus, whatever it was would probably be gone by the time he got back, and Tommy would just chide him for trying to waste the lights battery again. Hurrying back to the button that lit the stretch outside the window, he waited for another beep to confirm the things' presence just outside the window before flicking the light back on. 

And low and behold, there _was_ something worth seeing in the water, even if it wasn’t a cool octopus like he’d been expecting. 

Benrey was familiar enough with deep sea life to know that he’d definitely never seen something like the creatures out in the water before him. At least not in real life anyway. They were almost human, if you could ignore their lower halves being _entirely_ not. 

The one closest to him had long, flowing, grey streaked hair drifting up and around their head in a pretty brown halo; they had wide, dark eyes staring back at him from where they were hovering in the water. They had fuzzy facial hair and a few scars littering their upper body, but most visible was their lack of a right forearm, the stump ending roughly just below their elbow. Their lower half was a dark, brownish orange, and was more reminiscent of a shark’s body than anything else. 

The second one had tightly curled, shorter cropped hair with a four-finned, tawny and white spotted lower half. They didn’t have as many visible injuries as the second, but he noticed something small that he couldn’t quite discern from the distance between them, clutched in their hands. He was in the middle of deciding whether to be more shocked or curious when the two almost immediately turned tail and darted back off into the darkness where the stations light couldn’t reach. 

Watching the blackness of the ocean for a few moments longer with no re-appearance of the two fish people, he spat out a burst of teal as he ran from the room to where he assumed Tommy would be around the engines. He paused by the sub-bay doors though when he noticed Tommy’s tall figure sitting at the edge of it. Bursting into the room his eyes locked onto the retreating ripples of something in the black water, then to Tommy gawking back at him, his mouth hanging slightly open. Only snapping back shut once he seemed to realize he’d been staring. 

“So, uhm…” Tommy tossed a quick glance back to the now still water and let out a nervous chuckle, “What do you need Benrey? I was just uhm, checking to see if I dropped anything in here by uh…. Accident.” 

Benrey had known Tommy for long enough know that he was definitely being suspicious as fuck right now. He was a pretty open guy already, which didn’t help his case any when he was obviously trying to hide something, but his foot twitching immediately gave him away. Whatever, Tommy had his secrets, they weren’t going to intrude on them if they could help it. 

“There was some stuff on the scanner around the base,” Benrey said quickly, “And I uh, was about to on the lights outside the base, because, like, whoa, cool fish, finally. But I checked the scanner thing and there were two things out there? And they were, uh, a lot bigger than the fish down here. So, I flicked on the lights and, fuckin’, you know the little mermaid? Two Ariels were chilling outside in the water. Swam off but uh… Fish people real bro.” 

Worry wormed its way onto Tommy’s features in equal measure before a horrible façade of confusion won out, “I uhm… Benrey, are you sure? Mermaids aren’t really…” he waved one hand at the water, before suddenly dropping it back to his side and slumping over in defeat. 

Padding forward, Benrey cautiously sat himself at his friends’ side, waiting as Tommy gnawed at his lip, trying to find the words, “You’re all good bro, give yourself a minute.” 

Tommy nodded stiffly, still staring down into the black pool of water, “I- you can’t tell anybody, alright?” he said after a moment, his voice lacking its usual humor and dipping into a serious tone. 

Benrey nodded hastily, “Absolutely, would uh, would never betray my best bro’s trust.” 

Tommy’s foot tapped the metal grating for a second longer before he let out a sigh, “I should have told you when I met them- I didn’t not say anything out of uh, mistrust or anything! They’re just… Cautious; and I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. But if… If they’re coming by the base as a group now, I think it’s probably okay. And since you’re not human I don’t think they’ll mind too much either!” 

Benrey hummed at that, his brows furrowing slightly, “So uh... Mermaids real?” 

Tommy made a noise of half-agreement, “They all call themselves sirens, but yeah I guess so. They’re all actually really nice but you did uhm... Scare them off just now, so you’ll probably have to wait till later to meet them.” 

Huffing, Benrey glanced back at the water, “Pussy ass fish.” 

He might have been more polite with his wording had he known one of them was going to jump from the water, needle teeth already bared in a snarl. Jerking back from the pool as the siren slammed their hands down onto the metal grating of the walkway, Benrey pressed himself against the wall fighting to keep his expression neutral. 

“Say that again and see what happens,” they hissed, their beady, dark eyes narrowing at him. 

Benrey had half a mind to leap up and run from the room, but forced themself to relax, easing down onto the floor to where they’d jumped back to, “Whoa, uh, pissy fish.” They mumbled out, forcing their eyes to go back to their usual half lidded look, “Can’t even handle a little insult?” 

The siren sneered at him, lowering themself back in the water as another one popped up next to him. Both appeared to be older men, each with lined faces and receding hairlines, the first one visibly more so. 

“It seems _you’re_ the pussy!” The second siren cheered, already wearing a wide grin. His colorful plates of armor shining in the fluorescent light as He shifted upward slightly, displaying a second pair of tucked in arms and he finally registered as mantis shrimp. Benrey was pretty sure that they lived in warmer waters and not at the bottom of the fucking ocean, but the dude obviously didn’t seem to be minding the water that much, so he left it be. 

Benrey blinked, suddenly remembering that they were in the middle of a conversation, “Yeah, uh, wait _no_ , I’m just chilling here man, y’all… Coming up here and being mean, not very cool of you.” 

The first siren huffed turning away slightly, and Tommy chose the brief intermission to cut in, “This is my friend Benrey! They’re uhm, they’re not human so I- I figured it’d be okay to tell him about you guys. But uh, Benrey this is Bubby and Dr. Coomer!” 

“Fish have school’s too? Man uh, major in… Water… Salts?” 

Bubby, the angrier of the sirens, sneered at him with dangerously sharpened teeth, “Of course not! Who has the time to learn about water salinity when everyone already knows about it? And _obviously_ there are schools, what do you think _we’re_ in! Everyone has a school.” 

Arching one eyebrow, Benrey bared his pointed teeth back in a smirk making the older siren blink, “Never even graduated? How uh, how many times you fail elementary bro? Three? Four? Got your uh, multiplication tables done yet? Do the color block shapes? Can’t believe these guys are still in school Tommy, can you believe that?” 

Tommy looked over at him, a humored grin on his face, “I don’t- I don’t think that’s what they mean Benrey. You know, like, a school of fish?” 

The mantis shrimp guy, brightened visibly, the front arms of where scales met his torso paddling through the water slightly as he grinned, “Yes! In biology, any group of fish that stay together for social reasons are shoaling, while if a group are swimming in the same direction in a coordinated manner, they are schooling. In common usage, the terms are used rather loosely. So, in Tommy’s words, yes, we are a school! Darnold and Gordon _were_ supposed to be stopping by to say hello as well, but I suppose you scared them off with your light Boper.” 

“Huh? Benrey is my name bro.” 

Coomer nodded sagely, “Beamer.” 

“Benrey.” 

“Betty?” 

Groaning, Benrey looked away from the siren, “Sure, _fine_.” 

Dr. Coomer was seemingly satisfied with them having backed down from the little back and forth so he proceeded with a recitation of what Tommy murmured to him was some Wikipedia article. Though Benrey did notice that Coomer did use his name correctly when asking him real questions, so they supposed he couldn’t be too bad if he was joking around. They were still wary of Bubby, but for the most part he seemed fine as well, once the heat was off them, the dude actually didn’t seem so menacing. His teeth were still quite a bit more threatening compared to their own, but Benrey was fairly sure they weren’t going to be bitten or anything. The two did seem to be reasonably civil. 

Eventually though, Coomer mentioned something about needing to check in on somebody called Joshua so the two bid their farewells in varying levels of enthusiasm and dove back down into the depths of the water. 

Flicking a look to Tommy, Benrey found their friend looking a bit nervously back at them, “So uh, mermaids _are_ real?” 

Tommy let out an exasperated laugh as he got up and carefully helped Benrey back to his feet as well, “That’s all you have to say? Not- no wondering how they survive in those depths or questions about the other sirens in their school or- or what they even do down there?” 

“Nah,” Benrey hummed, swiping off their pants, “You’ll tell me when they come back though right? Wanna… Wanna talk to the other guys too. Seemed pretty cool I guess. One had a bunch of cool scars. Gonna’ unlock their backstory so hard, get all the cool knowledge without even lookin’ up a walkthrough.” 

Letting out a chuckle, Tommy just shook his head, “I will. You… You’re not mad though? F- for me not telling- for not introducing you to them earlier on?” 

Shaking his head, Benrey turned down the hall toward where their adjoined rooms were situated, “Mad about not meeting some old farts? You’re fine bro. Wanna uh. Play some Smash though? I think I got a strat’ to beat you. No spoilers but you’re gonna’ go down for real this time.” 

Looking more than a little relieved, Tommy nodded, a familiar mischievous look crossing his friends features, “You can try Benrey!” 

So with the challenge set, Benrey eagerly trotted down the hall, the sirens little more than a new side-quest in the back of his mind. He was _absolutely_ going to ask them about how they lived without PS plus down there later, but for now, he had a match to win.


	2. you're a little fish guy aren't you?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wahoo!! another chapter of this! i kicked like. 90% of this out in one day then finished the rest of it this morning so there might be a few mistakes but!! im pretty happy w dis chapter! gordon's a little mean by accident in dis chappy which. is probably going to be a recurring thing because i think its funny but! i'll try to warn when hes gon be mean in any chapters.

And again, for all Benrey tried, they didn't manage to beat Tommy. He did get closer than ever before to winning against his friend by using Yoshi, but it still wasn't enough to knock him out. He did get a pity prize of a can of Sunkist though, which quickly placated his moping. 

The days passed in a similar fashion to the first where he'd met Bubby and Dr. Coomer, in which a few of the sirens would pop by for the afternoon and leave later on for some other reason Benrey didn't entirely pay attention to. He'd yet to have a chance to talk to the scarred siren he'd seen from the window, but Benrey had seen Tommy talking to the guy more than once, and he seemed friendly enough, so Benrey didn't get the whole deal for why he'd duck back into the water whenever he even _tried_ to talk to the guy! He _obviously_ hadn't gone to school because apparently, he hadn't learned ignoring was _rude_. Tommy did tell them his name was Gordon Freeman, though and that he was a bit shyer than the others, so they'd have to be more patient with him. 

So that's what Benrey did. Even though it near physically pained him to sit by the edge of the pool on his own while Tommy was out fiddling with some other shit somewhere inside the base, Benrey stuck it out. It took a few tries of him just chilling by the water on his own for anybody to come up though. 

First, it was the old dude- Bubby, who was still rude but was more likable after they talked a bit more. He mentioned he liked the stars in some off-handed comment, so Benrey had brought out a book of Tommy's that had the constellations that quickly enamored the guy. It was probably a combination of that gift; that was still sitting on a towel in an easily accessible spot by the side of the sub bay and a combination of the fact that they tolerated his ramblings that Bubby became one of his favorites to have visit. 

Dr. Coomer was alright too, but he made more fun of Benrey than they did of him, which they didn't appreciate because that was their _thing_ , but it was nice to have someone aside from Tommy to joke around with as well. Darnold, the other siren Benrey'd seen from the window, only popped in occasionally, but he and Tommy seemed to get along well, so Benrey didn't mind him much either. He liked his video games when Benrey had shown them to him at least. The only one of the sirens who he didn't really like was some guy everybody called Forzen. He was nice at first, which Benrey thought was fine, but he turned mean halfway through their conversation, so Benrey had left soon after. The guy hadn't liked him leaving while they were in the middle of talking though so he'd been holding a grudge ever since. 

He was in the middle of playing Pokémon on his switch when he heard the tell-tale rippling of water signaling someone's approach. Idly flicking his gaze to the dark water, Benrey watched as a head popped above the surface. _Gordon's_ head. His slitted eyes swiped over him with a glare before ultimately finding no-one else in the room. The siren's head finally breached the water with a sigh, and Benrey quickly turned their gaze back to the game lest him just watching sent Gordon swimming away. 

"Tommy's not here?" 

Timidly looking back up, Benrey watched as Gordon blinked questioningly back at him, his dark, wavy hair fanning out in the water. Benrey looked back to the screen in their lap. 

"He's uh… Checking oxygen or whatever. Making sure we don't die," Benrey risked the siren another glance, a slight pull curling the edge of his mouth as he watched Gordon, "You're kinda' like Ponyo bro. Just peeking up from the water like that. Tryna'… Trying to steal? Want to steal my save file? Can't take _my_ shinies." 

Gordon snorted, rising enough so his shoulders were above the water, "I don't even know what you're _saying_ man. How could I possibly steal? I mean- look at me, I couldn't exactly get up there to steal from you very easily." 

Benrey grinned, setting the switch down into their lap, "Huh? You could… Grab my ankles bro. Try and drag me in. Would be very not swag of you to do." 

"I'm- I'm not going to grab your _ankles_ man," Gordon laughed, and Benrey found he quite liked the sound. It was better than being ignored by the guy anyway. 

"Gonna'... Grab sum' else then? Take me by the hand? Gay little hand grab that makes you mad?" 

The siren rolled his eyes at them, but Benrey saw a poorly repressed smile pulling at the corners of his lips, so he counted it a win as he looked back down to the switch. A particularly loud cry from one of his Pokémon in the game had Gordon's ear fins perking up. His eyes widened as the sound faded and the background music continued, swimming closer with a nervous expression. 

"What even _is_ that?" Gordon asked, peering over Benrey's legs to try and get a better look at the screen. 

"It's Pokémon bro. You guys don't got video games down there? No RuneScape for you?" 

Gordon scowled, his head jerking up to meet their even stare, "I don't know what any of those things _are_. You can't blame me for being curious." 

Benrey eyed Gordon's lower half curiously, looking to where his skin faded into the pale white underbelly and the near orange over his back and wrapping around his sides. He couldn't see the total patterning over the sirens back, but the designs he could see from the angle he was at looked fairly intricate for just being on a fish. Or siren. Whatever. 

"Could you uh, hop outta' the water? I could show you. Can't get this baby wet though. Otherwise it'd die." 

Gordon balked, glancing to the device in his hands apprehensively, "It can _die_? Why do you have a baby? And why would you want me up there if I'd kill it!" 

A sharp smirk curled over Benrey's face as he let out a cackle, " _Dude_ ," he paused to draw in a breath, only to break off into another fit of laughter, which left Gordon arching a tense eyebrow at him, "It- it's not _really_ alive. S' like our base bro. Serves a function or whatever. It doesn't die really, but uh. If water gets on it, it'll break." 

Gordon let out a breath, considering the grating Benrey was still lounging on, "I'm glad for that at least. You... Don't really seem like the type to be able to take care of a baby." 

Benrey huffed, ducking their head a little, "Totally could bro. Got- got _all_ the achievements in the Babysitting Mama Wii game. Don't... Stupid fish-man doubting my epic childcare skills. So rude. Hurts bro." 

The siren at least had the consideration to look apologetic as Benrey focused back on the game, "I don't- sorry... I didn't mean anything by it," Gordon trailed off, twining his long hair around his fingers for a few moments, "I still don't think I can... Get up there, you know? I'll uh, I'll stay in here for now." 

Shrugging, Benrey forced their gaze on the game, only to pause a moment later when they got an idea, "Wait- uh, gamer trick, watch this." 

Sliding the controls from the side of the switch, Benrey leaned the screen up against the wall and settled a little way back so Gordon could see what was going on and they could still play. 

"You can just take it apart like that?" 

Benrey flashed Gordon a look out of the corner of his eye as he resumed the match he was in, "Yeah. It's supposed to. So you can show it off to epic buds and stuff. Wanna'... Wanna' be in the gang? Be part of the bud's crew? Watch me play?" 

Letting out an exasperated chuckle, Gordon folded his left arm onto the walkway and rested his chin down on it, "You're an _anomaly_ man. I don't even think half of what comes out of your mouth are even words." 

Benrey grinned at that, letting out a toneless beep of blue sweet voice, "Not words." 

The sirens gaze turned to him all too quickly, Gordon's dark eyes going wide as he watched the bubbles of color float up the ceiling then disperse into a fine mist, "You... You're not human." It wasn't a question. 

Pursing his lips, Benrey marginally hiked their shoulders up a little further, so they dug into the bottom of his helmet, eyes flicking insistently back to the screen, "Yeah." 

It wasn't really something to gloat about. Not when they'd been killed so many times over it. They didn't think Gordon would kill them. For one, he'd already said he didn't want to get out of the water; plus, he wasn't human either. And it'd make Tommy sad, so Benrey felt pretty safe in their judgment. They'd been wrong before though. The 'Y' shaped scar over their chest ached at the thought, so Benrey promptly shook their head to clear the memories from the forefront of their mind. 

"So, you're not- you're not going to hurt any of us?" Gordon asked, almost tentatively, sinking a bit lower in the water as if Benrey was going to reach out and attack him. 

He promptly shook his head though, flicking his full attention back to Gordon, "No. That'd be real unpog of me bro. Tryna'- trying to hurt some people I just met? Bad. Cringe idea. Unless you're gonna' be mean to Tommy. Then we'll just have to see about that friend." 

Gordon's perpetually worried expression softened for a moment as he gave Benrey a genuine smile, "I wouldn't be mean to Tommy. He was, uh... I was the first one to meet him actually. He was fixing something on the outside of this thing and managed to glance around and see me. I was swimming too close, and he hardly even reacted- I mean, he waved at me and fuckin' swam away. Which- I figured that's the _opposite_ of what people did so I uh. I waited around till he came outside again and we talked I guess. I was too afraid to come on my own, so Dr. Coomer tagged along but ah... Yeah. He was the first nice person I ever met." 

Benrey tilted his head ever so slightly at Gordon, "You've met other people?" 

Eyes widening as if he'd spilled some huge secret, Gordon's gaze desperately flitted around the room, looking anywhere but him, "You- I uh- no. I have to go back and- I'm going to check on my son Joshua. Okay, bye." 

And with a flick of his tail, Gordon dove back into the water, vanishing into the blackness in a matter of moments. Benrey's brows furrowed as he watched the ripples for a few moments longer before quietly turning back to the screen. 

Well. 

At least he knew the guy had a son now. Maybe next time they talked, he could ask the guy to bring his squirt over so Benrey could show him Pokémon too. Kids liked games. 

Either way, Benrey knew they wanted to get to know Gordon a bit further. His reactions were pretty funny when he got flustered like that, and he _did_ have a nice laugh. An unbidden spurt of blush pink spilled past his lips that nearly had Benrey fumbling the switch controls into the water. Carefully setting them back onto the switch for their own safety with shaking hands, Benrey clapped a palm over his mouth, staunching the bright flow of sweet voice. 

Uh. Shit. He was fucking lucky Tommy wasn't around to translate that bullshit for everyone to hear. For now, it was just him and his stupid dumb thoughts swirling around the color he just spit out, blatantly announcing some gay feelings for the world to see. The world didn't translate sweet voice though either, so carefully Benrey peeled their hand back off of their mouth, biting their lip nervously as they stewed in their thoughts. 

Just because they thought the guy was _pretty_ didn't mean it was a total crush. It was dumb to just- to look at a dude and get a crush on them immediately. That was for uncool people, and Benrey was totally cool. Top-ranked gamer, never- never lame. He was very cool. The sweet voice, on the other hand? Not cool in the slightest. Contradicting ideas that needed to be fixed. 

Letting out a sigh, Benrey scooped up the switch and settled it back into the built-in pocket on the inside of his vest. Rocking to his feet, he padded from the room in search of Tommy, if only to just tell him that one of his friends was a lame dad guy. Totally not attractive in the slightest. 

It took a few minutes of searching through the various rooms, but he found Tommy in the base's small kitchen area, taking a can of soda out of the fridge. Seeming to have spotted them out of the corner of his eye, Tommy grabbed another soda for them before shutting the door, handing it over when Benrey got close enough, "I uhm, I heard you talking to someone in the sub bay! Who po- who stopped by today?" 

Benrey hopped up onto the small island in the middle of the kitchen and cracked the soda open, "The Gordos dude. He uh. Seemed nice." 

Tommy arched an eyebrow at them, pulling up a chair so they could better talk, "Yeah?" 

Humming in response, Benrey took a loud slurp off the soda, "Didn't know about anything really, but he seemed… Cool, I guess. Kinda rude, but. Yeah." 

Smiling around the soda he was sipping on, Tommy just offered him a nod, glancing down to the clipboard of notes laid out on the island's countertop, "Well, I'm glad- I'm glad you guys get along then." 

Benrey already had a sinking feeling Tommy knew something was up just from how they talked about the guy, but that was a problem for a later version of them. So looking back down at the soda in their grasp, Benrey took another needlessly loud slurp, getting one from Tommy back in response a few moments later. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yooo benrey and tommy bonding moments... honestly. love seeing them as friends SO much and it gives me an excuse to write more tommy dialogue so i can get better at it lol. anyway! if y'all have prompts or things u would like to see in this fic.. PLWEASE tell me because im just writing whenever i get vague ideas of what i want to do. like. there are a few key plot points i have in mind but. if any of y'all hav fluffy stuff... i wouldf love to hear it... need more mermaid thoughts.


	3. lets play video games and Not break them please <3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> imagine ur me and forget abt one of ur fics entirely for months on end.... uh. yeah! anyways! updates Should go by like. every other week im guessing but, fr who knows lol. but! pov shift time! :]

Gordon waited a few days before finally revisiting the underwater base again. Most of the time spent away was him showing Joshua, who was still unfamiliar with the depths, the farther reaches of their schools' territory. Gordon's eyes were still notably unadjusted compared to everyone else's with the severe darkness that pervaded every inch of ocean down here, but he was at least grateful Joshua had acclimated to it rather quickly; he _had_ spent most of his life down in the darkness anyway. Meanwhile, like Dr. Coomer, Gordon had been raised in the shallows; used to near white sands and open blue waters that he could actually _see_ in. A part of him still missed the bright waters there, bring able to wind through patches of coral and swim through the easier hunting grounds, hardly having to swim two feet before being able to find something to eat, but visibility was the main reason he'd left. It was safer here, for him, _and_ Joshua. 

He blinked out of his sulking from the sound of an approaching siren outside his burrow. Joshua was out with Darnold, last Gordon knew, showing him a spot where crabs tended to gather, so it probably wasn't them. Digging his fingers into the soft sand, Gordon hauled himself out of the burrow, so just his head was poking into the open water. He released a soft breath as pale spots of luminescence came into view, announcing Bubby's presence before the siren was actually visible. 

"Gordon! Get the hell out of that hole! We're going to go look at a paper Tommy brought for me!" 

Bubby's teeth were bared in an all too familiar grin, the small barbel under his chin flashing with a pleasant light. Shaking out his head, Gordon pulled himself fully from the den, swishing the last bits of sand free from his tail as he scanned the open water, "You'd better not ruin whatever it is, I don't want you coming back here to complain about it for a whole nother' hour again." 

Crossing his arms over his chest, Bubby jerked his head away with a scoff, "It's not _my_ fault that the paper gets ruined in water! It's the own thing's damn problem! Now come on, I'm not going by myself, and Harold's out beating some mollusks to death, so you're coming with." 

Tossing the older siren a flat glare, Gordon swam closer to his side so it was at least a _bit_ brighter. He knew it was safer to go in groups, less likely to be swooped up by people if there were more sirens around to help, but it didn't stop Gordon from putting on a mask of faux irritation, "Well thanks for telling me I was your _second_ option. Now are we going to go or what." 

Letting out a huff of bubbles through his gills, Bubby whisked into the direction of the underwater base, leaving Gordon to follow along behind him. The further they drew from Gordon's den, the less space he recognized around them, distantly he could sense the movement of other fish through the water from the sensors on the underside of his jaw and down his tail but other than that, it seemed like they were alone in the water. Which was something he should have taken more comfort in; fewer things in the water meant less likely injuries and less of a chance of being discovered. Not that it really applied any more with Tommy and Benrey already having found them out, but the principle still stood in Gordon's mind. 

The darkness of the water was unforgiving and felt as if it was pressing in onto him at all sides. And technically, it was; the pressure was something he had to adjust to when he'd moved down into the depths. But luckily, sharks were more adapted to quicker fluctuations in water pressure than other sea life, meaning he had an easier time swimming in-between depths. Of course, when he'd still lived in the shallows there'd been no need to go this deep, but at least his body could adapt to the changes even if his mind was still hung up on being nervous over it all. 

It wasn't like he had an especially hard time finding his way around, with everyone in their school who was usually available to guide him and the fairly distinct land markers, it was just… Unfamiliar. More than half the school had spent their whole lives down here, so they were used to the perpetual darkness. It'd been a strange experience having to explain the reefs and forests of seaweed he'd called home for so many years to the other sirens, but it was probably strange to the rest of the deep-sea sirens that he didn't seem to know the first thing about the ocean floor either. 

He'd spent nearly five years down here now, and he _still_ didn't feel used to everything; at this point, even Joshua was more adapted than him. The deep-water ravines plunging into deeper areas of the ocean he knew to avoid, but he hadn't seen any of the dangers lurking inside of them either to know exactly _why_. And hopefully, with their leviathan guarding their school, he wouldn't ever have to. Aside from Dr. Coomer though, everyone else grew up with that information as common sense to them, and even now it still felt like he was learning. 

The one thing Gordon _was_ positive of though, was that people were dangerous. They were why he'd moved himself and Joshua down here after all, to _avoid_ them. And yet, here he and Bubby were, heading off to where two of them lived. Well, one of them, Benrey was definitely not human, or at least a kind of human Gordon had ever heard of. Their skin had a dead, grey-ish look, and their eyes were as yellow as his own, sharpened teeth to match. And if he hadn't already been convinced by appearances, the burst of colorful bubbles that he could apparently sing on command confirmed it. 

So _technically_ , he'd only been seen by one human down here, but even out of the two of them, Gordon felt like he could trust Tommy, the actual _person_ , more. Sure, Benrey had been funny in a strange sense, but Tommy didn't push his boundaries. Tommy'd never asked him to hop out of the water, especially for something as insignificant as looking at some game, and even though Gordon was mostly sure Benrey's intent had been harmless, he couldn't quell the suspicion that they had a more malicious intent. 

He had lost his arm to people after all, he had a right to be distrustful. 

Gordon was yanked from his thoughts as he caught sight of the glowing figure of the underwater base in front of them. It was just a few meters off the ground, held aloft by sturdy metal legs and with a patch of cleared sand beneath it. Most of the tubes connecting the rooms were illuminated by a distant light source, but Gordon spotted a few of the unused room's currently shrouded in darkness. Tommy had said something about conserving electricity before to why the base was lit up, but he still wasn't quite sure what exactly that meant. Either way, the only bright part of the base that really mattered to him was the moonpool, a glowing light shining down into the water and lighting up the sand below. 

With a quick flick of his tail, Gordon pulled past Bubby, an instinctual compulsion to check an area to make sure it was safe for his school rearing its head as Gordon breached the water of the pool. Tommy had his back to them at first but was quick to peer over his shoulder at the sound of Gordon leaning onto the metal walkway. His freckled face was bright with excitement as he fully turned around, hastily switching the stack of papers in his grip as he squatted down to Gordon's level. 

"Mr. Freeman! And Mr. Bubby! I've uhm, I've actually got something I was wondering if you could help me with!" 

Grumbling out a quiet correction of ' _doctor_ ' Bubby sidled up alongside Gordon, eying Tommy as the scientist swapped a few of the pages in his hands. It took him a moment to thumb through the pile to find whatever he was looking for, but eventually, he set down a brightly illustrated image with some scratchy writing around it. 

"So uhm, my 'main' reason for being down here is to look for distortions, but I- I haven't seen any of those, so I decided to do a little side project! The uh, the main reason I was chosen to go down here is because my minor is in marine biology, so I figured I could put so- some of that know-how to use! I don't have much else to do right now, but it- if either of you could help me out, I'd be real- really grateful!" 

Squinting down at the page again, Gordon puzzled his way through trying to read Tommy's quickly written scrawl and remember what all the letters even meant in their specific orders. He wasn't exactly _good_ at reading, and the lack of readily available texts or light sources to read by hadn't exactly helped. But he'd spent enough time scrutinizing the shit dropped by people or things half-sunken into the sand back in the shallows to get the gist of the language. Tommy's writing was quite a bit harder to read than the occasional fine printed text he'd seen before, but it was fairly understandable with a bit of focus on his part. He didn't know how Bubby was reading it since he'd lived down here as far as Gordon knew, but he also could have just been pretending to read it as well. 

"Are… Are you trying to _make_ a squid?" 

Tommy nodded vigorously, his grin growing wider, "A bobtail squid! I want- I want them to be perfect, so it'll take some time to do, but I was wondering if eit- if any of you could help! You all know a lot more than me about life down here, and I've had a _bit_ of help from your leviathan, but-" 

"Wait, wait," Bubby held up one clawed hand, his eyes narrowing impossibly further to where Gordon was nearly sure he was pinching them closed, "You met with our _leviathan _? We hardly ever see the guy, and you just… _Talked_ to him?" __

__Tommy offered them both a questioning look as he pulled the paper back a bit to set a few more out next to it, "Well uh, yeah! He was- he was the first siren I met!" _"I thought _I_ was the first siren in our school that you met?" Gordon asked, stomping down his immediate feeling of distrust. It was fine. Tommy wasn't going to hurt them. Besides! He hadn't seemed very surprised by Gordon at all during their encounter; it'd make sense. __ _

__"Gman was the first of your school I met," Tommy idly flipped through a few more of the pages, pulling out a pen to strike through some things, "I um… He came here to make sure I wasn't going to do anything mean, and I'm not! So I think it all turned out alright, he uh, he's stopped by a few times I guess, to check in. But he's- he's really what inspired me to try this out really!"_ _

__Bubby just shook his head, "Well, I don't see how you're going to just _make_ a squid without any samples from the animal." _ _

__As Tommy and Bubby delved into some more scientific talk that Gordon couldn't quite keep up with, biological science was definitely not his area of expertise. Gordon found his attention caught by a sudden flash by the doors in the hallway outside the sub-bay. His nerves jumped despite knowing who it was; Tommy only came down here with one other person after all, but knowing who it was might have been worse. Benrey was probably curious with as fast as he'd left last time, and Gordon was definitely not ready to give them an answer._ _

__Unaware of his plight, Benrey rounded back to the glass window on the door, giving him a one-handed wave and a sharp-toothed grin before pushing the door open and waltzing on in. Gordon had half a mind to dive back into the water to avoid him, but Benrey didn't move to approach him, at least not yet. Instead, he stood over Tommy's shoulder, squinting down at the pages that were probably upside down from his point of view._ _

__Tommy didn't even seem to notice their presence till Benrey's knees bumped into his back as some sort of greeting. And even then, the most Tommy did to acknowledge them was a brief upward smile before he dove back into conversation with Bubby._ _

__Seeming a little disgruntled with the minimal reaction they received, Benrey set to minutely pestering Tommy as he talked, much to Gordon's amusement. Bending down to knock his forehead against the back of their friend's head, repeatedly ruffling Tommy's hair and smoothing it back down, flipping and unflipping the collar of Tommy's lab coat, even going so far as to press quick smooches to the side of their friends face. When none of their antics seemed to garner the response Benrey was looking for though, they turned their gaze to Gordon instead._ _

__"Yo Freeman. Sup bro."_ _

__Blanking for half a second, Gordon stared at Benrey before quickly shaking his head out, unconsciously letting his hand drift to the stump of his right arm, "Uh, nothing? I just came here with Bubby so he could talk to Tommy," he couldn't help the snippiness to his voice, but there was still something about the guard that put him on edge. If anything, he should have been comforted in the presence of another non-human, but with how their lidded gaze bore into his own, it almost made the water seem colder than it already was._ _

__Nodding sagely, Benrey took a seat down on the edge of the pool, waving Gordon over, probably so they wouldn't have to talk over Tommy and Bubby. Hesitant in his approach, Gordon swam over just a tad bit closer, pausing to rest a safe distance back in the water._ _

__Content with the distance, Benrey fished something out from the front of his padded vest. Placing a whole ass towel down on the walkway and then a controller like the one he'd been using before a little farther back._ _

__"Got uh, Mario Kart up in here if you wanna play. Bet you're a fuckin' Donkey Kong main. Can tell just by lookin' at ya'."_ _

__As Benrey turned back around to set up the screen and everything else he'd apparently stowed away in his vest, Gordon, against his better sense, drew a little closer to watch what he was doing. Their deft hands moved fluidly over the controller, sifting through whatever nonsense was on the screen with practiced ease. He didn't get why Benrey would want him to mess with the device if he could so easily break it, but Gordon couldn't tamp down his intrigue either._ _

__Hefting himself up, so his upper half was resting on the towel, Gordon made sure his hand was dry before taking the second controller into his hand. It felt awkward still to hold things in his non-dominant hand, but with the limited number of buttons, he figured he could handle it._ _

__Glancing back to the guard, Gordon tried to quash the feeling of similarity between them and the fishermen who'd taken his arm. Logically, he knew Benrey hadn't been among them, but there was something in that intense gaze and blocky, hardened look that made his insides twist with a vague sense of nausea. He was jerked from his thoughts by the guard in question, finally meeting his gaze._ _

__"You gay bro? Lookin' deep into my eyes there."_ _

__Tearing his stare away with a huff, Gordon randomly mashed the buttons on the controller to get them through the menu screen they seemed to be on, "Fuck off. Show me how to play."_ _

__At the very least, Benrey seemed agreeable to do that. They were gleeful in their assumption that Gordon would pick Donkey Kong as their racer, which he didn't quite understand, but he let the guard have their moment. The few practice races they did went relatively smooth; Gordon still struggled a bit with the controls because you have to press buttons _and_ tilt the controller apparently? It was trial and error, but by the third round, he'd mostly gotten the hang of it. _ _

__"I'm the resident master gamer, bro. Not even Tommy beats me at Mario Kart. Rosalina don't got shit on me n Bowser Jr. Gonna wreck you and that funny little banana bike."_ _

__Snorting out a laugh, Gordon jabbed an elbow into Benrey's side, "You fucking wish. I saw you on the practice races. Those were shit."_ _

__"Not bad as you little- little idiot. Dummy cant drive right. Moo Moo Meadows is gonna beat your ass." Hunkering down further to focus on the game, Gordon kept an eye on Benrey's mini-icon in the corner of the screen, successfully maintaining a lead till the motherfucker swooped by him from a speed boost and knocked a green shell into him. Hissing out a curse that was quickly drowned out by Benrey's clamorous cackle, Gordon aimed for the next speed boost to shoot after him. In the end, Benrey came out in second, just a place ahead of him._ _

__"You fucking bumped into me on purpose! It was still the first lap man!"_ _

__Benrey shrugged, a crinkly smirk still in place on their features as they moved onto the next track, "Yeah then maybe get good bro? Dodge maybe? Don't bitch if s' a function in the game."_ _

__The next few matches went down in a fairly similar fashion, Gordon only managing to beat Benrey once, and it was because they'd got caught up in a snowdrift. Their final match though was some sort of water-themed one, so Gordon was determined to win. Even if he didn't have the overall total in his favor, he was going to win the last one if it was the death of him._ _

__And seeing as his engine stalled right out of the gate, it seemed like it was going to be the death of him. It didn't help any that Benrey, sensing his sudden focus, decided to jeer and crow at him every time he came anywhere near crawling back up to the top five. It was in the final lap when at last Gordon was fucking in second place, right behind Benrey and inching closer and closer with each passing second, that the guard decided to jab one finger into his shoulder._ _

__Sputtering in surprise, Gordon fumbled the controller in a fatal mistake, letting Benrey cross the finish line with a gleeful shout that turned halfway into a stream of warm orange orbs. Letting out a groan, Gordon dropped his forehead against the metal grating, allowing the controller to fall from his grip._ _

__"You're an ass. You fucking- cheater-ass- couldn't even play by the rules of the game. I hate you so much man."_ _

__"Didn't say it was against the rules," Benrey singsonged, dropping a condescending hand onto his shoulder._ _

__Stilling at the touch, Gordon felt his breath hitch in his throat and was forced to remind himself that it was just Benrey. Glaring up at the guard, he took note of the faint blue tint over their features, nearly hidden by the shadow of his helmet but just prevalent enough for him to see, "You're a bastard."_ _

__"Best friend bastard."_ _

__Snorting, Gordon got his hand back under him and pushed off the grating beneath him to drop back into the water, "Yeah, we'll see about that."_ _

__Gordon nudged Bubby in the side to let him know that he was leaving and received a dismissal wave in response, so he figured it was a good enough acknowledgment. Offering Benrey a short little wave before he left, Gordon was in the process of diving back under the water when he heard a faint "Gordon _Fin_ man!" Being shouted at him from Benrey. Letting out a laugh of bubbles through his gills, he flicked his tail to propel him away from the base; Gordon pretended he couldn't feel a similar warmth glancing over his face as well._ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i do not actually have much to say dis time because this chappy was Not beta read but! if any of u og ppl who were reading this in the beginning are still here. im kissing u on tha cheek /p

**Author's Note:**

> yo! me again, i don't have a beta reader like usual, so if u see an error like a repeating paragraph or whatever please point it out to me lol. i will send u virtual candy hearts that u get around valentines day as gift. (not rlly but imagine it)


End file.
